Shoe-sole.



J. F. DAvnS.

sHoe soLE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 2. I9I6.

UNrTnD STATES PATENT OFFICES.

JOHN F. DAVIS, GF FREEPORT, MAINE.

SHOE-SOLE.

Application led November 2, 1916. Serial No. 129,049.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN' FREDERICK DAVIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Freeport, county of Cumberland, State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Tmprovements in Shoe-Soles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to shoe structures, and particularly to a shoe in which iiexibility and softness are required. Tn my previous Patent, No. 989,950, granted to me on the eighteenth day of April 1911, I disclosed a shoe of the type to which my present invention relates, but my present inventlon involves certain improvements applicable to this type of shoe in general, and particularly to the form of shoe shown therein.

In that form of shoe some manufacturing difficulties have been experienced in lasting at the ball portion where the interposed cushion partis embodied. In order to improve and strengthen the shoe at this point as well as to v'facilitate its manufacture, T have provided for the combination of the elements of the insole with a special fastening member which provides for the combination of these elements into a unit piecek as well as providing for a member which may be employed as a fastening member to hold the parts and to facilitate the lasting.

In the accompanying drawings T have shown a lform which T have found well adapted in practical manufacture and use, and which well serves as an illustratedembodiment to which reference may be made in the accompanying specification.

Tn the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the inner side of my new sole member.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the opposite side.

Fig. 3 a longitudinal section.

Fig. 4 a view of an upper lasted with my new sole member, and

Fig. 5 is a sectional detail of the fastening element.

T construct my sole portion of a heel and shank piece 2 which may be of reinforced canvas or any other suitable material, and a toe piece 3 which may be of any suitable material, preferably leather. The intermediate filling placed below the ball portion of the foot is preferably of felt as indicated at 4. These three elements are assembled preferably by fastening to a thin slip 5 and are then fastened together by a pair of members 6,l one on each side of the sole at the opposite margins of the'ball portion.

These fastening members 6 are preferably of canvas, although they may be of any deslred material. These strips are of sufficient Specification of Letters Patent. Patelited Mar., 12, i918.

length to traverse the central portion 4 and overlap the toe portion 3 and the heel and shank portion 2 being stitched through as mdicated at 7 so as to unite these parts. The portion 6, as shown in Fig. 2, is' of sutiicient width so that after the parts have beenunited by the stitching 7, it may be folded as indlcated in Fig. 5, to form a. fastening member t0 which the ipper 9 may be sewn by a series of stitches 8.

Tn practising my invention, the sole member is first produced as stated above by assembling the toe part 3, the ball part i.; and

the heel and lshank part 2 upon a backing 5, and sewing on the member 6 to unite them. This sole member is then placed upon the last and the margins of the upper 9 drawn over it and secured by tacking where necessary. The edges of the upper adjacent to the ball portion are then fastened by a line of stitching 8. This stitching operation not only unites the edges of the upper with the .fastening member of the sole, but has a lastlng effect in that the upper'is drawn in at the same time that it is sewn. The shoe is then fastened in the usual manner. T am thus able to produce'a shoe which has great flexibility and ease and yet which is very strong and durable.

Various modifications may obviously be kmade in the above structure within the spirit of my invention, and within the limit of the appended claims.

What lf therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Tn a .shoe structure of the type described, a sole member comprising a heel and shank part, a toe part and an intermediate cushion member, a marginal fastening stri on each side of the sole and attaching sai three members in position, and an upper fastened along the ball of the sole to said fastening member.

2. In a shoe structure of the type de scribed, a sole member comprising a thin inner sole, a heel and shank part, a toe part and an intermediate cushion member as-v sembled thereon, a fastening member overlapping the members of the Sole and united by suitable fastenlngs to each. of sald mein- 

